JohnnyDepp-Zone.com

Johnny Depp joins the voice cast of SpongeBob SquarePants for the much-anticipated episode “SpongeBob vs. The Big One,” which will arrive on DVD on March 3rd. The new DVD, named for the Depp episode, will contain “6 episodes of the show that are new-to-DVD, plus the title episode that is seen for the first time anywhere, only on this disc!” So says the press release from Nickelodeon and Paramount Home Video. Of course, by not airing the Depp episode on television first, the studio can ensure maximum sales of the DVD . . . fiendish. Now we all know how fish feel when the hook is dangled in the water.

What happens in the mystery episode? From the press release: “SpongeBob and his pals find themselves stranded on Tropical Island after being swept away by a giant wave. While trying to find their way back home they meet the infamous surf guru Jack Kahuna Laguna (voiced by Johnny Depp) who tells them that the only way to get back to Bikini Bottom is to surf the legendary wave called ‘The Big One.’ ” The Zone thanks Theresa for breaking the news; you can read more about the SpongeBob DVD on the Zone’s News & Views forum. –Part-Time Poet

Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, has acquired the screen rights to Nick Tosches’ 2002 novel In the Hand of Dante, Variety’s Michael Fleming reports: “The novel will be developed as a potential star vehicle for Depp.” JD will produce In the Hand of Dante with Infinitum Nihil president Christi Dembrowski (Johnny’s sister). Although Infinitum Nihil has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. and Graham King’s GK Films, JD’s company used its own funds to option the Tosches novel, a testament to Johnny Depp’s affection for this particular work. In a 2003 interview with Gregory Katz (available in the JDZ Archives), Johnny praised In the Hand of Dante as “unbelievable”–that is, unbelievably good–and added, “I read anything by Nick Tosches.”

When In the Hand of Dante comes to the screen, Johnny Depp will be playing Nick Tosches, who appears as a character in the complex plot. The novel entwines two storylines, one which shows Dante struggling to complete his masterwork, The Divine Comedy, in 14th-century Italy, and one which shows the present-day author Tosches attempting to discover whether a recently-unearthed manuscript is actually Dante’s original. Marc Kloszewski of Library Journal calls Tosches’ novel “brilliant . . . synthesizing history and biography with contemporary murder and mayhem to create an exotic meal of a book, albeit one for strong stomachs. [. . .] As with any Tosches book, a reader’s willingness to embrace the dark side and all that it entails is essential. However, behind the grunge lies a fascinating study of the power of writing and the relative value applied to it. The fact that the cynical Tosches doesn’t provide easy answers only adds more provocation. Highly recommended.”

The Zone thanks savvypiratemonky for breaking the news; you can read the Variety article HERE, and a lively discussion of it on the Zone’s News & Views forum. The Zone congratulates Infinitum Nihil on its acquisition and wishes them luck in translating this challenging text to the screen; no doubt it will be a labor of love. –Part-Time Poet